Daddy's Shoes

Kiely LOVES shoes. She will get in our closet and try our shoes on, or just bring my shoes to me for me to put on. Usually she'll bring the red ones. :) A few weeks ago, I caught her walking (or trying to walk) around with James' slippers on. It was pretty cute. She had done this before with both mine and James' shoes, but I'd never gotten any pictures. This time, I did the best I could... some ended up pretty blurry, because this girl won't hold still for just about anything! But I thought she looked so cute wearing her daddy's shoes! :)

The best smile she'd give me.

If she can move in them, that's all that matters. Even if they are on backwards!

Now she's got it right! Ready....

Downhill skiing in dad's shoes!... Turning...

This is some serious stuff!

BREAK! Done.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't really thinking skiing, but that's what it looked like to me! I love this girl! She's pretty funny, and SO cute!

Cherish the Small Moments...

Kiely hasn't been feeling very well the past couple days. She has a cold-- runny nose, gunk in her throat, fever sometimes, etc. This morning I could tell she was still tired. (She usually takes a nap after James leaves for work anyways, but she seemed more tired.) Most of the time, she just gets fussy, and that's when I put her in her bed, and no more than 15 minutes later, she's usually asleep. This time, though, I decided to cherish the moment. Rather than just putting her in bed, I wrapped her in her soft blanket, and rocked her in my rocking chair. As I was rocking her, I could tell she was thoroughly enjoying it. And sometimes, she would get this little smile on her face... The kind they get when they're newborns that everyone tells you that they just have gas or something... But I know she didn't have gas. (Believe me, I know when she does now.) It was the sweetest thing, and I loved those few minutes I took to just take care of her. I thought about the talk by Elder Oaks on Good, Better,Best, and felt like at that time, I was doing the best thing. I love our little sweet Kiely Bug.

This isn't from today, but I love this picture of her with her little bum sticking in the air!

Halloween

Well, at least here's the pumpkin for now! (We only took pictures of Kiely with my phone, and I don't know where the cord is to put the pictures on the computer, so I'll have to wait till James gets home, because he probably knows where it's at.) We had fun carving our pumpkin, and even let Kiely in on gutting it! :) I think she had fun... was a little hesitant, I think, but enjoyed it. I carved the bat on the back, and James carved the face in the front. James had a blast taking pictures of it in the dark, glowing... I was just trying to keep Kiely out of the way! We had a good Halloween. We just went to our ward's trunk-or-treat (which was almost over by the time we got there, but it was just right) and then came home and watched Van Helsing.

Gutting it...

We're still not sure what it means when she crosses her fingers, but it's kinda cute!

Getting the gunk off!

James decided to put some seeds all over Kiely's back. I like him. He makes me laugh! :)

Posing for mom! Look at the seeds hanging off of her!

Pretty much finished! The flowers are from Sweetest Day. Yes, it's an actual day that is celebrated on the third Saturday in October! Google it. I didn't believe it when James came home with these and some Dove chocolates!

The bat is carved on the back, and James got just the right angle to make it look like it's flying out of the pumpkin!

That's all for now... I'll get pictures up of Kiely in her Princess Dress when I can!

Yellowstone National Park

On the 23rd of October, James, Kiely, and I set out for an adventure to Yellowstone! :) We had a lot of fun... and a lot of time in the car. (Which, who really enjoys car rides for that long?... Definitely NOT Kiely!) Kiely got kind of cranky sometimes-like when she was hungry or just sick of sitting in the car. She loves to stay busy, and sitting down for many minutes-- or hours-- at a time is not her thing. She was a trooper, though, and almost every time we got out to go see something, we let her walk. It was SO cute! Sometimes she wouldn't even let us hold her hand. She just wanted to be a big girl. When we stopped to eat lunch, there was a crow close by, so James fed it some of his bread or chips or something... crows a re pretty smart! James would play games with it, and it wouldn't go get the food until James wasn't looking. Haha. For over half of the trip, we didn't see any animals (besides an occasional buffalo, but they always seem to be everywhere, so they aren't very exciting to me. Oh, and the of crows...) Eventually we did see some Elk, and that was about it... But the scenery was beautiful, and we enjoyed being together as a family! We didn't get home till I think 11 or something, so we were all exhausted, after a long, fun day! Enjoy the pictures! :)

Happy as can be- on our way!

Climbing the stairs! (She could do this all day and never get sick of it!)

The earth IS alive, and ACTIVE!

Beautiful colors of the earth.

My sweet man and baby girl (who isn't much of a baby anymore!)

James called the ones we got here Halloween pictures, because of the steam. :)

Our Happy Little Family! (Okay, maybe Kiely doesn't look so happy-- she'd just woken up.)

First Elk we saw. She stood and posed for me! :)

?? Can't remember where this was... one of the pretty waterfalls!

A buffalo!

James was saying how he really wanted to see a Bull Elk... This is one of two that we saw, and he seemed almost tame. Just chillin' on the lawn.

Second Bull Elk with all his ladies.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! So pretty!

Waterfall by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Me and Kiely and Yellowstone's Grand Canyon

Tired and all pooped out and ready to be at home in bed! (Yes, this is her pooping face! Haha! We think it's HILARIOUS!!)

Sometimes I have to tell myself...

that it's okay to let Kiely help and get a little messy! Often when I'm cooking (or busy with just about anything) Kiely wants to help, or wants me to hold her or whatever.. She holds onto my legs and cries to get my attention (not that I didn't know beforehand, I just would have to ignore her sometimes so that I could get something done in a decent amount of time...) So the other day, I was making tortillas, and decided to sit her up on the counter, and let her help me stir... I'm pretty sure she loved it! I decided that it's not worth it to get upset over the dough that she got on her, or that she wanted to touch it... I just let her help! (Eventually I had to take the spoon away so that I could actually mix it, but I did take the time to let her "help.") Kiely loves to help with things, and I'm pretty sure she's thrilled when we ask her to help us with something. She likes to put the utensils in the dishwasher (and take them out, and put them in,and take them out, and put them in...) and helps me unload when it's clean, too! She is such a smart girl! :)

Concentrating on stirring!

"Hmmm... I kinda like this squishy, sticky stuff!"

Well, I don't look that great, but I thought it was cute how she's looking at the camera, and she looks proud of herself for helping mom stir!

Good thing I was helping her so she didn't have to pay attention to what she was doing!

She just NEEDED to stir by herself again! (Look at the concerned look on her face! haha)

I'm so glad that we have this sweet little angel! She is growing up TOO fast!!

Laundromat

Today, I am grateful for the laundromat. I won't say that I really like it, but am grateful for it. We haven't gotten a washer and dryer yet, so I've been going there once a week for the past little while. I really actually HATE going there. It's kind of filthy and disgusting (they don't seem to vacuum often enough) and the people that go there AND work there, are sort of freaky sometimes. BUT I was thinking today, "I'm glad I don't have to wash all of our clothes by hand, or drive to my mom's or something to do my laundry every week." (Not that I don't like going to my mom's... it's just a pain to go and do laundry at someone else's house.) I am grateful for that weird-smelling, gross, full-of-strange-people place, that allows me to get my laundry done in a couple of hours! (When we do get a washer and dryer, I'm going to have to spread the laundry out through the week, so that it's not JUST laundry day when I do laundry, I think.) Saturday is the day, hopefully-- that we will come home with a set, and then I will be grateful for that! :)

Gratitude

Yesterday during the morning session of conference, President Monson gave a wonderful talk on gratitude. I loved it. Sometimes I get stuck looking to the future, and forget the blessings I have in the here and now. It's not that I don't feel blessed and grateful to our Heavenly Father for so many things that I have in my life, I just don't stop and ponder-- count my blessings-- often enough. This got me thinking about how it feels like the only time we really are thinking a lot about the blessings we have is around Thanksgiving time. SO... My goal for now is to recognize, and try to write down (maybe blog occasionally) about at least one thing that I am grateful to our Heavenly Father for each day. (My goal is to make it to general conference in April at least.)

"Regardless of our circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful, if we will but pause, and contemplate our blessings." -Pres. Monson

So, with that said, today I am grateful SO MUCH for the power of the Priesthood, and that I have a worthy husband who is able to use this power in our home, and is Patriarch over us. I am glad that I feel comfortable going to James asking for a blessing for me or Kiely when I feel like we need it. It's an amazing thing, and through our faith, it can help us in our lives in so many ways. I love the power of the Priesthood, and my sweet James.